Fastlane Tonight - in Cleveland!

[Jack Brickman]

The state of the NXT women's division right now is exactly why I think they should have held Becky Lynch back and given her a title run. They're doing absolutely fuck all with her on the main roster and it's a crime that she never got a title run given that, in my opinion, she was the second best woman in the division behind Sasha Banks. I don't disagree that she was ready to move up, but moving her up and making her a glorified cheerleader for Charlotte is a waste of her talents. I would have preferred to give her another four to six months in NXT and then move her up after Charlotte and Sasha have had time to settle in.

I saw an interview today where Big E said the person he would want most to add to New Day is Sasha Banks. Can we please make that happen, WWE? She's a perfect fit because she's such an amazing heel, and her pairing with Naomi and Tamina is going nowhere and never should have happened to begin with. They also really missed the boat by not having Sasha in a secondary women's feud while Charlotte and Nikki fight over the title (this would have been a perfect use for Becky!). It would have built up some heat for Sasha while making her an obvious choice for Charlotte's next opponent.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Time for my Hell in a Cell predictions!

Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, and Neville Vs. Rusev, Sheamus, and Wade Barrett
This should be a fun pre-show match. Does who wins even really matter? These guys are all in WWE purgatory. Sheamus has the briefcase but is going nowhere fast (Sunday might actually be a good time for a cash-in). Ziggler and Rusev just came out of one of the most boring feuds I've ever seen. Cesaro is one of the best five in-ring guys in the WWE but Vince thinks he's boring so he jobs to everyone. Neville is Mr. Pre-Show. Barrett was a main event guy a few years ago and had that fun Bad News gimmick that everyone liked earlier this year but that they just got rid of for no apparent reason. Given that Tyler Breeze is obviously going to feud with Ziggler now that Summer Rae is his valet (you'd think she'd want him to beat up Rusev instead, but this is WWE logic), I think Breeze interferes and costs Ziggler's team the match. Beyond that, I expect a fun but totally inconsequential match. There's a lot of talent in this one. I just wish the WWE had some idea what to do with it.

US Title Open Challenge - John Cena (c) Vs. Mystery Opponent
I think we all agree that the mystery opponent wins, given Cena will be taking a few months off after this PPV. I wouldn't put it past the WWE to have him win and just forget about him for two months, but that seems like a missed opportunity even in the "protect Cena at all costs" era that Vince lives in. The real question is who the mystery opponent is. Daniel Bryan or Dean Ambrose would get the biggest pops, I think, although as I've mentioned I doubt the WWE trusts Bryan enough to give him the title at this point. Ambrose would be a solid choice if the WWE plans to keep the title relevant and prestigious. I'd also be fine with an NXT stand-out getting their first big win, although it would make me a little bitter that the WWE didn't trust Owens to be that guy. Breeze and Zayn are probably the top two options of NXT guys. Breeze is already main roster bound and Zayn should be too once he's cleared to return from injury, and it would be a nice comeback for Zayn seeing as Cena was the guy who put him on the shelf. Any of those guys plus Cena should equate to a good match. Breeze would be the guy I prefer the least. Just not a huge fan of his.

Intercontinental Title Match - Kevin Owens (c) Vs. Ryback
Hard to get too jazzed about this match. I love Owens, but Ryback just underwhelms the fuck out of me. He's big, sure, but he's just so slow and plodding in the ring. Owens should win this one. No sense in putting the belt back on Ryback. Hopefully this ends their rivalry and they put someone better against Owens for his next feud.

Tag Team Title Match - The New Day (c) Vs. The Dudley Boyz
This feud has gotta end at TLC in two months, right? That's the logical blow off point. With that in mind, I think the Dudleys take the belts on Sunday. They get a nice throwback two month run with the titles and then drop them back to New Day at TLC. I also hope that the WWE brings in Spike Dudely so we can get a Survivor Series match between the Dudleys and the New Day. I think we can all agree that that would be awesome.

Divas Title Match - Charlotte (c) Vs. Nikki Bella
Hopefully this is better than their last match, which was basically just Nikki beating down Charlotte for ten minutes before she locked in a submission and made Nikki tap. They need to book Charlotte strong coming out of this one. I'd love to see an absolute beat-down of Nikki, but since she's banging Cena, I doubt that will happen. Still, Charlotte has to win this one or the Diva's Revolution was all a bunch of bullshit.

WWE Title Match - Seth Rollins (c) Vs. Kane
Does anyone really care about this match? No? I didn't think so. Rollins wins, or Kane wins via DQ. Either way, they're not putting the title on Kane.

Hell in a Cell Match - Roman Reigns Vs. Bray Wyatt
Really, Wyatt should be the one to pick up the win here. He's been wallowing in mid-card obscurity for the past year or so, and the WWE is really lacking in legitimately dangerous heels right now. But this is the WWE, and Reigns is their golden boy despite having the charisma of a particularly uncharismatic bag of rocks, so Reigns is going to win unless there are some shenanigans. Even if there are shenanigans, Reigns will probably overcome them and win anyway. Yawn.

Hell in a Cell Match - Brock Lesnar Vs. Undertaker
Not really all that jazzed about this one either. The Undertaker is just too old to take the kind of bumps that would make this match really compelling. I do think the WWE will probably let one or both of them bleed in this one, so at least there's that. Lesnar probably wins this one, unless of course they intend to keep 'Taker around as some sort of malevolent stable leader who doesn't wrestle much but has his minions do the dirty work, which would be fine with me. The WWE could use some sort of big bad since the Authority has ceased giving a shit about doing anything in particular.

 

[TheLand1287]

Solid work on those predictions and mine are similar enough to where it would be redundant to post them. I will say... reading that last line about the Undertaker-Lesnar match gave me flashbacks to the Ministry of Darkness days. That was fucking awesome.

Also, I watched Smackdown, and I don't care how good Tyler Breeze is in the ring... He could be a god for all I care... I already cant stand him like I immediately couldn't stand Adam Rose. His gimmick is ridiculous. Selfie sticks? Seriously? God, just retire Vince. What the fuck.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Solid work on those predictions and mine are similar enough to where it would be redundant to post them. I will say... reading that last line about the Undertaker-Lesnar match gave me flashbacks to the Ministry of Darkness days. That was fucking awesome.

Also, I watched Smackdown, and I don't care how good Tyler Breeze is in the ring... He could be a god for all I care... I already cant stand him like I immediately couldn't stand Adam Rose. His gimmick is ridiculous. Selfie sticks? Seriously? God, just retire Vince. What the fuck.

Well, given that he debuted the selfie sticks a long while back in NXT, I don't think Vince is to blame for that. I've also read that he was very involved in the creation and development of his character in NXT, so you can probably blame Breeze for them if anyone. I agree his gimmick is ridiculous. The problem, for me, is that he's just not good enough in the ring to justify it. He's good, don't get me wrong. He's just not great. He's nowhere near the level of Kevin Owens or Seth Rollins or Sami Zayn or even Neville when it comes to match performance, which is likely why he never held the NXT title.

I agree about the Ministry of Darkness. It would be awesome to bring back the Undertaker in that kind of role, and it would give some of the wayward guys on the roster something to do if they joined him. I think one of the big problems facing the WWE right now is that they have a lot of talent, but no idea what to do with half of it. They need to stable some like-minded guys up and see if it works out. In particular, I think a powerful heel stable leader would give some of the mid and lower card heels something to do. Wyatt could be that guy if they stopped forcing everyone who joined him to look like a greasy hillbilly, which I think kind of undermines his threat level.

 

[Jack Brickman]

By the way, if someone from NXT were to win the US Title from Cena on Sunday, that would mean that (assuming my predictions play out), every title in the WWE would be held by former NXT guys. Rollins, Owens, Charlotte, the New Day (well, Big E, at least, and Xavier Woods sort of), and whoever beats Cena. If nothing else, it shows that NXT is working pretty damn well.

 

[DJTJ]

By the way, if someone from NXT were to win the US Title from Cena on Sunday, that would mean that (assuming my predictions play out), every title in the WWE would be held by former NXT guys. Rollins, Owens, Charlotte, the New Day (well, Big E, at least, and Xavier Woods sort of), and whoever beats Cena. If nothing else, it shows that NXT is working pretty damn well.

I'll challenge, though. Rollins and Steen were not made by NXT. Both were incredibly successful in ROH (and Steen in PWG). The "NXT makes stars" mantra gets old when Hunter fails to realize that signing insanely good indy wrestlers doesn't mean you're making a star.

Balor, Rollins, Steen, Zayn. They're all massive stars in the indies and Japan. Gargano/Ciampa, while bigger names, are not in the same indy level as Devitt/Black/Steen/Generico.

I'll give credit for the mid card factory it's become, and that they're going to produce MASSIVE stars with Uhaa Nation (who, tbh, was just meh in DGUSA) and Jason Jordan.

But in terms of a strictly "fledgling indy talent who WWE found and made" like they did with Cena/Batista/Orton? NXT hasn't done that... yet.

That's current NXT. Obviously Reigns stands out. Wyatt was huge in new NXT at the beginning.

Give credit where credit is due; Independent wrestling is freaking fantastic. There are people in the indy that, right now, could be MEGA stars in the WWE, and it pains me to watch WWE just kinda brush over them.

Adam Cole, by far and a way, would be the greatest recent WWE signing. His mic skills as a TV heel are superb. His ring talent is believable and very, very good. Ethan Page goes in the same category. Tremendously entertaining, perfect looks.

If WWE could get Zack Sabre, Jr., given the Regal/PWG love affair, they'd hit a home run. Dude is tremendous. Probably the best pure wrestler on Earth. Wildly entertaining.

The issue? Would they fuck up Page/Cole by giving them shitty names and not letting them do them? Would they make Sabre like every traditional English/Irish wrestler? If he can't pull it on the mic, Regal as a manager would be insanely dope.

 

[kookoo]

The state of the NXT women's division right now is exactly why I think they should have held Becky Lynch back and given her a title run. They're doing absolutely fuck all with her on the main roster and it's a crime that she never got a title run given that, in my opinion, she was the second best woman in the division behind Sasha Banks. I don't disagree that she was ready to move up, but moving her up and making her a glorified cheerleader for Charlotte is a waste of her talents. I would have preferred to give her another four to six months in NXT and then move her up after Charlotte and Sasha have had time to settle in.

I saw an interview today where Big E said the person he would want most to add to New Day is Sasha Banks. Can we please make that happen, WWE? She's a perfect fit because she's such an amazing heel, and her pairing with Naomi and Tamina is going nowhere and never should have happened to begin with. They also really missed the boat by not having Sasha in a secondary women's feud while Charlotte and Nikki fight over the title (this would have been a perfect use for Becky!). It would have built up some heat for Sasha while making her an obvious choice for Charlotte's next opponent.

RE: NXT Aska is freaking ridiculous. She's probably going to get called up super soon. I'm confident they're going to sign more good female talent because outside of Bailey and Aska, no one is really talented. But man is Alexa Bliss hot. She's somehow sexy, cute,

 

[Tornicade]

Well if Kane loses he will get fired as director of operations.
I could see Kane creating his own stable.
Queue in Stardust and the Ascension along with a diva or 2.
but what are his options?
He could bring up Corbin and Rhyno.

or perhaps the Wyatt Family joins him ( Wyatts always seem to be doing something that benefits the Authority indirectly)

also if the authority fires kane. there is nothing left but seth rollins and triple h

who would be in this stable led by kane/undertaker.

 

[Jack Brickman]

I'll challenge, though. Rollins and Steen were not made by NXT. Both were incredibly successful in ROH (and Steen in PWG). The "NXT makes stars" mantra gets old when Hunter fails to realize that signing insanely good indy wrestlers doesn't mean you're making a star.

I don't think the argument is that NXT makes stars. However, it gives new wrestlers a platform to make their names and become familiar to at least a portion of the fan base before debuting on the main roster. Obviously Owens and Rollins were successful before NXT, but Owens in particular got a really nice boost from NXT as a WWE Network platform. Do you think there's any way that Owens comes in and beats Cena in his first match if he wasn't first an NXT standout? I don't. NXT didn't make him, but it did make him a name among WWE fans before he went to the main roster. I'd lump Rollins in there too, but he was in NXT before it was all that popular.

And again, I didn't mean that to say that NXT makes stars. I'm just saying that it's clearly a platform that is working for the WWE. Guys get to come in to NXT and get better without ridiculous expectations from the get-go. The best ones move up quickly like Kevin Owens did (and like Crews will undoubtedly do), but the other guys get the time they need to develop into better wrestlers without fear of washing out. Look at Corbin, for example. He's gotten tremendously better since he started in NXT. He went from being a guy who could do like two moves into a competent wrestler. He's still green, but now he looks like he has potential to be good. I wouldn't have said that six months ago.

Personally, I love that WWE is making basically everyone start out in NXT regardless of their credentials. It makes NXT better as an individual product, but it also allows guys to make a "slow burn" transition to the main roster. And I think it speaks volumes that almost every champion is a former NXT standout. Yeah, some of them were successful before, but that's not really the point. The point is that NXT is a great launching platform for both indie standouts and developmental wrestlers. How many wrestlers will all of us who follow NXT love that much more because we followed them in NXT?

Well if Kane loses he will get fired as director of operations.
I could see Kane creating his own stable.
Queue in Stardust and the Ascension along with a diva or 2.
but what are his options?
He could bring up Corbin and Rhyno.

or perhaps the Wyatt Family joins him ( Wyatts always seem to be doing something that benefits the Authority indirectly)

also if the authority fires kane. there is nothing left but seth rollins and triple h

who would be in this stable led by kane/undertaker.

The Authority isn't really being presented as much of a heel faction any more. Yeah, people still boo them, but when is the last time that either Triple H or Steph went out of their way to really antagonize a crowd? It's been a really long time, right? The Authority could disappear after Hell in a Cell and it really wouldn't change any of the current story lines. They're still in charge, but they aren't actively using their power to fuck over faces any more, which means they are effectively neutral and not a heel group. Rollins is a heel right now, to be sure, but the Authority hasn't gone out of their way to help him in ages.

RE: NXT Aska is freaking ridiculous. She's probably going to get called up super soon. I'm confident they're going to sign more good female talent because outside of Bailey and Aska, no one is really talented. But man is Alexa Bliss hot. She's somehow sexy, cute,

Alexa Bliss has a bangin' body, but you can tell her face is a wreck without make-up.

Not that I wouldn't go to town on her in a heartbeat, busted face or not. Dat ass.

 

[Tornicade]

Whether they change their name or not is licensing. Samoa Joe was able to keep his name because the WWE didnt have to pay anyone else for his character.
On the stone cold podcast with Hunter. He was asked about the Indie stars. Hunter said that those guys had to adjust to do things the WWE and if they didnt. they were out.
NXT gives these indies guys time to adapt whereas without it they might not have gotten a shot.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Whether they change their name or not is licensing. Samoa Joe was able to keep his name because the WWE didnt have to pay anyone else for his character.
On the stone cold podcast with Hunter. He was asked about the Indie stars. Hunter said that those guys had to adjust to do things the WWE and if they didnt. they were out.
NXT gives these indies guys time to adapt whereas without it they might not have gotten a shot.

In Steen's case, I'm assuming it was because he was just wrestling under his real name in Ring of Honor and WWE wanted something they could market and own for themselves. Plus, the KO shirts are cool and work really well for his character. That's one instance where I think WWE made the right decision. He didn't get a ludicrous name or gimmick, just one that was more easily marketable.

 

[DJTJ]

In Steen's case, I'm assuming it was because he was just wrestling under his real name in Ring of Honor and WWE wanted something they could market and own for themselves. Plus, the KO shirts are cool and work really well for his character. That's one instance where I think WWE made the right decision. He didn't get a ludicrous name or gimmick, just one that was more easily marketable.

I think a large reason people like Joe/Storm don't get renamed has little to do with marketing, and a lot to do with they were on a mainstream TV show in the United States.

Arguably, to a smark wrestling fan, Steen/Generico/Black/Devitt are four of the biggest names in wrestling, but to the average fan who just watches cable wrestling, they're nobodies.

Way different.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Apparently Storm is teasing a Hell in a Cell appearance tonight. It would be awesome if he ended up being the guy to answer Cena's challenge and take the belt from him.

 

[DJTJ]

Apparently Storm is teasing a Hell in a Cell appearance tonight. It would be awesome if he ended up being the guy to answer Cena's challenge and take the belt from him.

Also saw Joe as a possibility. Maybe they're gunna take the belt to NXT as a second belt?

 

[elcheato]

Given that Cena is leaving after tonight for his break, he has to lose, right? And if he does, I can't imagine he's gonna lose to a debuting 36 year old Samoa Joe, or a 38 year old debuting James Storm.

I don't know who it will be. I imagine I'll be disappointed by whoever it is, but I'm holding out hope for Daniel Bryan. They need another top babyface with Cena taking his break and Orton out for however long he is, so I think they're going to bring back Bryan now even though they clearly don't want him back.